Tuesday, December 28, 2010

On December 22ndMaxfield lost his first tooth. He was very excited to leave the lower left central tooth for the Tooth Fairy that night. At 4 am on the 23rd of December Max ran into my room to wake me up and show off the new five dollar bill he found under his pillow. I told him the Tooth Fairy was being generous because it was Max's first tooth and it was close to Christmas (and it was the only bill the Tooth Fairy had in her wallet). He was amazed by the magic of the Tooth Fairy.

On December 24th Max woke with the excitement and anticipation that goes along with Christmas Eve. Throughout the day we discussed Jesus' birthday and the spirit of giving and the three Magi. We visited family and exchanged gifts with God parents and grandparents. That night we were invited to dinner by our neighbors at a Japanese style steakhouse/hibachi joint, where the chefs cook on the table top and entertain the diners with cool tricks and knife work. My boys were in awe of the flaming volcanic onion as well as the chef catching food in his hat. It was a great night and Max could not stop talking about it.

Christmas morning was filled with toys, stockings filled with treats and the talk of Santa and his magic of giving. We had a incredible day assembling toys, pretending to be superheroes, playing games and using our imaginations to accomplish great feats of strength and magical powers. We visited with more family and exchanged presents with aunts and uncles and Mom Mom.

It was a great and magical long weekend in our house. And after it is all said and done, the wonderment and awe between the Tooth Fairy, Santa, Jesus, the three wise men, Lego Star Wars guys, Iron Man, countless super heroes, aunts, uncles and Godparents, I truly think that Maxfield was most impressed with the Hibachi chef guy. So much so that he asked that we take him back to that restaurant for his birthday.

Monday, December 20, 2010

Wyatt Blue, my four year old, attends a pre-school in a local Methodist church. The school is highly regarded as an excellent pre-school with a focus on education with a Christian foundation.

Last week I was driving Wyatt to pre-school and I asked him what they were learning in school.

"Christmas." He said.

"What did you learn about Christmas?"

"Christmas is a the time when Jesus becomes a baby again. You see, Jesus is a man who at Christmas time becomes a baby. He then becomes a boy so that by Easter he is a man again. You see Jesus is two men, a boy and a baby. His super powers are that he can become a baby again. But I think he should just stay a baby because then we could have Christmas longer and oh look at all those Gooses. Why do Gooses sit there?" He pointed to the field next to us.

"Yes it does Wyatt. What else can you tell me about Jesus?" I asked trying to get him to focus back on our original conversation.

And I smiled the rest of the way to his school as he rhymed other words with Jesus.

Wyatt continued, "Cheeses...Pizzas... Sneezes... Pieces..."

*Baby Cheeses from ABC's Modern Family, best show ever.

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Here are some gift Ideas for the holiday season although some of them may not be able to make it to your tree in time.

Maze Man--A friend of mine does his own hand drawn mazes. They are cool and complex. He even does custom mazes for business and what not. Very cool.

B Toys--I wrote about these folks a year ago here and how funny their instructions were. They included my post on their website. Check them out. This is the company's first Christmas season. We were trying to purchase a Veterinary kit/Critters Clinic for Wyatt but have not been able to track down at Target. They keep selling out. That is how awesome their toys are.

Books make great gifts and awesome stocking stuffers. I highly recommend Frankie Pickle books by Eric Wight as well as The Dread Crew by Kate Inglis for the young readers. And of course for the older readers on your gift list there is anything by Brad Meltzer (my secret man crush) as well as For a Good Home by Eve Mont. Brad has a new book coming out in the next month or so and he has a television show on the History Channel. Eve Mont just signed a deal for three new books with her publisher.

Kcinnova --won the Tassimo Single Serve Coffee Machine. I had over 60 entries between comments and emails. I used a random number generator and her number was picked. Thank you to all who entered and thank you to all who read Poop and Boogies.----------------------------

Remember when you are having your Christmas dinner and someone asks, "What's in this?" just say "Poop and Boogies. Shut up and eat it."

Sunday, December 12, 2010

This year, without my wife's knowledge (because she thinks it is "dorky" or something), I created and mailed my own Christmas card for my siblings. Two days later I received a phone call from my brother Anonymous. He told me that even though it was early, he is pretty confident that I was going to get "top honors" this year for the best card. I was and still am pretty excited.

The above picture was on the face of the Christmas card and the text read, "Merry Christmas. Let nothing you dismay. From the Merry Gentlemen, Maxfield, Wyatt and Jackson. And Lauren and Bill.

Thursday, December 09, 2010

Susan is a friend of mine since childhood and while we were growing up she always invited me, the Catholic, to her Jewish family's celebrations. I attended various nights of Hanukkah and many Passover Seder dinners at her house that Susan's Uncle Kenny knighted me an Honorary Jew. He told me that after someone attends enough events with his family that by default they are Jewish-ish enough. He may have given me the honorary Jew title just because he wanted me to keep coming back to the Post Seder dinner poker games that I usually lost.

Susan still invites my family, more so my kids, to her house to celebrate and learn about Hanukkah with her daughter Estella. We have attended the past two years and the kids would exchange small gifts and my boys would get to light the Menorah and play Dreidel and eat chocolate "gelt" coins.

Last night Max told me that they were learning about Hanukkah in school.

"What did you learn about Hanukkah?" I asked.

"Nothing new." he said. "I already knew it all."

"Really?"

"Yeah, from Estella's house."

"Oh." I replied.

"Are there any Jewish kids in your class?" Lauren asked Max.

"No."

"How do you know?"

"The teacher asked if anyone in the class celebrated Hanukkah and I was the only one to say yes."

I laughed.

"The teacher asked if I was Jewish." Max added, "I told her no, but my friend Estella is, and that is where we celebrate Hanukkah."

Monday, December 06, 2010

So apparently and allegedly Brett Favre had done it. And then there was this kind of popular dad blogger, Dad Gone Mad, who used his popularity and recognition as a reason/excuse to (allegedly) do it. I am talking about sending pictures of their junk to people.

I figure I need to do it as well. But since I don't have everybody's email addresses I will, in the effort to save time and what not, just post pictures of my junk on my website.

Here are pictures of my junk.

This is the junk in my garage. I do not know how it got there or how to even use half of the junk there. It is just there.

This picture is of the junk on the top of my chest of drawers. Lauren hates my junk on the chest as well as the fact that it clutters the drawers. This is the junk that litters my pockets everyday.

This last picture is of the junk that I pull out of the laundry on a regular basis. The picture above is a collection from just the past week. An Elephant, a domino a Lego Star Wars light saber a die from a board game and yes, that is a partially eaten pickle that I had taken from the washer after I had run it. I have no idea why any of my kids would have put a half eaten pickle in their pocket, but it sure did make me laugh when I found it as I was transferring the clothes to the dryer.

Wednesday, December 01, 2010

I am not a fan of shaving. I never have been. I started shaving when I was 14 and I do not like the act of shaving. I like a clean face. I like a close shave. But I do not like the actual chore of shaving. A chore, that is what it is.

I have thick hair. Thick hair and thick thighs are what I inherited from my mom's side of the family. When it comes to shaving my face I have to pay attention and work at making sure I do not butcher my skin in the process.

About 8 or so years ago my mother in law gave me a Gilette Sensor razor for Christmas. It made shaving a little bit more bearable. I still hated shaving but having a nice razor made the process a bit better. I have since moved away from the Gilette Sensor and I have started shaving less and less, preferring a beard or goatee to nicks and cuts left on my face.

When my wife Lauren ran the ING Philly Rock and Roll Half Marathon in September they gave her a bag full of stuff for running the race. In the swag bag was a little tiny tube of some kind of oil attached to a piece of paper that said "Shave Secret." The paper had instructions on how to use the oil for shaving using just water and the oil. The paper claimed "the best shave ever". I had my doubts but I decided to give the stuff a try.

I shaved my entire face, not one nick. The shave was close and my skin was left soft and smooth. Let me tell you, THE BEST SHAVE EVER. I looked up Shave Secret online and found that it could be purchased at Wal-Mart. I immediatley went out and purchased a small bottle. I now, kind of, like shaving. I now shave challenging myself to actually give myself razor burn or a nick or cut.

Whenever I discover a new product, restaurant or whatever I always make it a point to tell my brothers. The 8 of us tend to share these kind of things as I pointed out in this post about underwear. I was talking to my brother Jim one morning and I told him how much I love Shave Secret. He said that a while ago he used the stuff but stopped because he thought it was clogging up his sink. I thought that he may have a good point. The oil does, kind of, clump the shaved hair together before it is washed down the drain. I could also see the oil causing the clumps of shaved hair to stick to the walls of the drain pipe much like cholesterol sticking to the insides of an artery.

I told my brother Jim that I could see that happening but that I would rather invest in Drano than give up the best shaving experiences I have had so far. He laughed, then he said, "I stopped using Shave Secret because I THOUGHT it was clogging my drains. It turns out that about a month after I stopped using it, I had a plumber out to check the drain and there a was a toothbrush stuck down in there the whole time. So it was not the Shave Secret."

I highly recommend Shave Secret for those without a toothbrush in the drain problem.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------In the effort for full disclosure, Shave Secret did NOT pay me or give me their product to review, I repeat did NOT. I recieved NO compensation for this post whatsoever. I just really like their product.

From the Movember Website"Movember challenges men to change their appearance and the face of men’s health by growing a moustache. The rules are simple, start Movember 1st clean-shaven and then grow a moustache for the entire month. The moustache becomes the ribbon for men’s health, the means by which awareness and funds are raised for cancers that affect men. Much like the commitment to run or walk for charity, the men of Movember commit to growing a moustache for 30 days."

In 2004 Movember concentrated their efforts to focusing on the number one cancer affecting men, Prostate Cancer. The typical prostate is explained here. So LOD, CK, Kevin and Whit you have raised money in the hopes that more men will have doctors stick fingers up their butts. Thanks guys.

All kidding aside I think it is awesome that those bloggers participated in Movemeber. It is never too late to donate.